Gaza truce talks in the balance as Israel and Hamas trade blame
A Palestinian source with knowledge of the indirect talks in Qatar told AFP that Israel's proposals to keep its troops in the war-torn territory were holding up a deal for a 60-day pause.
But on the Israeli side, a senior political official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivities of the talks, accused the militants of inflexibility and deliberately trying to scuttle an accord.
On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed across the territory on Saturday, including in an overnight air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.
"While we were sleeping, there was an explosion... where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying," Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the attack in an area of Gaza City.
"We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered," he added.
In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried.
In Tel Aviv, thousands took to the streets urging the government to seal a hostage release deal. "The window of opportunity... is open now and it won't be for long," said Eli Sharabi, who was freed in February.
Both Hamas and Israel have said that 10 hostages held since the militants' October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war would be released -- if an agreement is reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.
Enclave plans?
But one Palestinian source said Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand for a complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza was holding back progress in the talks.
A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone discussions until U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrives in the Qatari capital.
The first source said Israel was proposing to maintain its military in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
"Hamas's delegation will not accept the Israeli maps... as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement," they said.
Israeli media reported that new maps would be presented on Sunday, quoting an unnamed foreign official with knowledge of the details.
A senior Israeli political official countered later that it was Hamas that rejected what was on the table, accusing the group of "creating obstacles" and "refusing to compromise" with the aim of "sabotaging the negotiations".
"Israel has demonstrated a willingness to show flexibility in the negotiations, while Hamas remains intransigent, clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement," the official added in a statement sent to AFP.
The Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Military operations
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked "approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in the previous 48 hours.
It said fighter jets hit "over 35 Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
Two previous ceasefires -- a week-long truce beginning in late November 2023 and a two-month one from mid-January this year -- saw 105 hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The second Palestinian source said "some progress" had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.
Netanyahu, who is under domestic and international pressure to end the war, said this week that neutralising Hamas as a security threat was a prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire talks.
That included disarmament, he said, warning that failure to do so would mean Israel would have to do so by force.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
89 killed as Syria sectarian clashes rage
At least 89 people were killed in the southern Syrian province of Sweida as clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters raged for a second day Monday, a monitor said. The Syrian military and interior ministries announced troop deployments, safe corridors for civilians and a pledge to end the fighting "quickly and decisively".(AFP) As the violence escalated, Israel -- which had previously warned that it would intervene in Syria to protect the Druze -- said it struck "several tanks" in Sweida, without providing further details. The fighting underscores the challenges facing interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose Islamist forces ousted president Bashar al-Assad in December, in a country reeling from 14 years of war. The Syrian military and interior ministries announced troop deployments, safe corridors for civilians and a pledge to end the fighting "quickly and decisively". The violence began Sunday when Bedouin gunmen abducted a Druze vegetable vendor on the highway to Damascus, prompting retaliatory kidnappings. Though hostages were later released, the fighting carried on Monday outside Sweida city, with mortar fire hitting villages and dozens wounded, said the Suwayda 24 news outlet. The streets of Sweida were deserted, with an AFP photographer reporting gunfire during funerals. "We lived in a state of extreme terror -- the shells were falling randomly," said Abu Taym, a 51-year-old father in Sweida. "Traffic on the streets is paralysed, and most shops are closed." Suwayda 24 reported the arrival of "dozens of victims" at hospitals as a result of clashes in the province's western countryside and shelling of villages. The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, raised its death toll to 89, including 46 Druze, four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters and seven unidentified people in military uniforms. A defence ministry source told Al-Ekhbariya state television six security forces personnel were killed "during disengagement operations in Sweida". An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Sweida city saw vehicles carrying fighters, large interior ministry military convoys, civilian vehicles and motorcycles carrying armed men towards the front lines, as well as ambulances transporting the wounded to hospitals in Damascus. While Druze spiritual leaders called for calm and urged Damascus to intervene. Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, one of the three Druze spiritual leaders in Sweida, expressed his "rejection of the entry" of general security forces into the province, demanding "international protection". 'Lack of state institutions' In a Sunday post on X, Interior Minister Anas Khattab said: "The lack of state, military and security institutions is a major reason for the ongoing tensions in Sweida, "The only solution is to reactivate these institutions to ensure civil peace," he added. The latest bloodshed follows deadly violence in April and May, when clashes between Druze fighters and security forces in Druze-populated areas near Damascus and Sweida killed more than 100 people. The Observatory said members of Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslim, had sided with security forces during earlier confrontations. Local leaders and religious figures brokered agreements at the time to de-escalate the tensions, putting Druze fighters in charge of security in Sweida since May, though armed Bedouins remain present in several areas. On Sunday, Sweida governor Mustapha al-Bakur urged his constituents to "exercise self-restraint", while Druze community leaders urged authorities to step in. In response to the violence, the education ministry announced the postponement of Monday's scheduled secondary school exams in the province. Israel and the Druze Syria's pre-civil war Druze population numbers around 700,000, many in Sweida province. The Druze, followers of an esoteric religion that split from Shiite Islam, are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Sweida, and violence occasionally erupts between the two sides. A surge in violence in March targeting the Alawite community -- with more than 1,700 killed -- and the subsequent attacks on Druze areas have undermined confidence in the new Syrian authorities' ability to protect minorities. In the wake of those incidents, Israel -- which has occupied part of Syria's Golan Heights since 1967 -- cited the protection of the Druze to justify several strikes, including one in early May near the presidential palace in Damascus. Israel is home to around 152,000 Druze, according to the latest available data, including 24,000 living in the Israeli-occupied Golan, of whom fewer than five percent hold Israeli citizenship.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
BBC Gaza documentary narrated by Hamas official's son breached editorial guidelines, review says
Britain's media regulator said Monday (July 14, 2025) it will investigate a BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza, after a review concluded that the narrator's father has Hamas links and the programme therefore breached editorial guidelines on accuracy. The broadcaster removed the programme, 'Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone,' from its streaming service in February after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Ofcom, the media regulator, said that it was launching an investigation under rules that state factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience. That came after a review by the broadcaster found that the independent production company that made the programme didn't share the background information regarding the narrator's father with the BBC. It said that the production company, Hoyo Films, bears most responsibility for the failure, though it didn't 'intentionally' mislead the BBC. The review, conducted by the corporation's director of editorial complaints, found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including impartiality. There was no evidence of 'outside interests' impacting on the programme, it said. Earlier this year, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy questioned why no one at the BBC had lost their job over the programme's airing. The broadcaster's Director-General Tim Davie had told lawmakers that the BBC received hundreds of complaints alleging that the documentary was biased against Israel — as well as hundreds more criticising the programme's removal from its streaming service. Directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh and actor Riz Ahmed were among 500 media figures who signed a letter published by Artists for Palestine U.K. saying a 'political' campaign to discredit the program risked dehumanizing Palestinian voices in the media. Davie said that the report identified 'a significant failing' in relation to accuracy in the documentary. Hoyo Films apologized for the mistake. Both firms said they would prevent similar errors in the future. Separately, more than 100 BBC journalists wrote a letter to Davie earlier this month criticizing its decision not to air another documentary, 'Gaza: Medics Under Fire." They expressed concerns that the broadcaster wasn't reporting ''without fear or favour' when it comes to Israel." The decision suggested that the BBC was an 'organization that is crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government,' that letter said. The BBC has been under intense scrutiny for its coverage touching on the war in Gaza. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and others condemned the broadcaster for livestreaming a performance by rap punk duo Bob Vylan, who led crowds at Glastonbury Festival in chanting 'death' to the Israeli military. The Israel-Hamas war started after the militant group led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
15 million Americans just got bad news - Judge reverses rule that would've wiped medical debt from credit reports
A ruling of a federal judge in Texas has dealt a setback to almost 15 million Americans hoping for relief from medical debt on their credit reports, as per a Denver7 report. Judge Overturns Biden-Era Rule on Medical Debt Reporting The judge overturned the Biden administration rule on Friday that had permitted medical debt to be wiped from credit reports, as reported by The Hill. Federal Court Says Agency Lacked Authority for Rule US District Judge Sean Jordan, who is a 2019 appointee of US president Donald Trump during his first term in office, said the rule by the previous administration is beyond the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to remove medical debt from reports, according to the report. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Here's The Estimated Cost of a 1-day Walk-in Shower Upgrade Homebuddy Learn More The CFPB, an independent agency, had finalised the rule in January, just before the former US president Joe Biden was set to leave the White House, as reported by The Hill. ALSO READ: Fire in the sky! Israeli F-15 nearly touches down in Tehran after mid-air emergency Live Events Jordan highlighted in his decision that the Fair Credit Reporting Act , which was amended in 2003, does not allow the CFPB to remove medical debt from reports, as reported by The Hill. However, according to the judge, the bureau can 'permit' or encourage creditors to use other categories of information, as per the report. The head of the Consumer Data Industry Association, Dan Smith, supported the court's decision, saying, 'This is the right outcome for protecting the integrity of the system,' as quoted in a Reuters report. Millions Affected by Reversal of CFPB Credit Reform The Biden administration had calculated that this move would remove about $50 billion of medical debt from the credit reports of nearly 15 million Americans, according to the report. The independent agency had also estimated that the new credit reporting rules would lead to an additional 22,000 mortgages every year and increase Americans' credit scores by an average of 20 points, as reported by Denver7. ALSO READ: Musk shocks xAI team with mandatory surveillance app, asks employees to download tracking app on all devices Broader Trump-Era Efforts to Limit Federal Agencies This comes after Trump tried to conduct mass layoffs in the consumer protection agency as his Department of Government Efficiency team was trying to remove 'waste, fraud and abuse' within the federal government, according to The Hill report. However, a federal judge did not allow the Trump administration from effectively dismantle the CFPB in March, as per the report. New Spending Bill Adds Pressure with Medicaid Cuts While Jordan's decision followed a week after the US president signed a massive spending and tax bill that includes sweeping cuts to Medicaid, and the new work requirements included in the law could strip millions of their coverage, as reported by The Hill. FAQs What happened with medical debt and credit reports? A Texas judge overturned a rule that would have removed medical debt from credit reports, affecting millions of Americans, as per the report. Who made the rule? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) introduced the rule in January, near the end of Biden's presidency, as per the report.
